


esoragoto

by NingenShikkaku



Category: Kagerou Project, Mekakucity Actors
Genre: Alternate Universe, Assassins & Hitmen, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Multi, Vampires
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-14
Updated: 2017-02-13
Packaged: 2018-02-17 09:26:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2304794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NingenShikkaku/pseuds/NingenShikkaku
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if the story I heard on that sleepless night was all a fantasy playing out in my head?</p>
<p>Drabbles of the various universe scattered across the Daze.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. smile

**Author's Note:**

> assassins AU, ShinKono. 100-250 words. Unbetaed.
> 
> Shintaro's smile is what Konoha loves the best.

Konoha loves everything about Shintaro, but it’s always the smiles that draw him the most.   


Shintaro is faint and fleeting, even when showing his love. Shintaro never gives overbearing kisses like how Hiyori does with Hibiya, never gives face-splitting laughs like how Seto does with Marry. No; Shintaro grumbles when Konoha asks for special dinner, but will cook it anyway. Shintaro sighs when Konoha phones to ask for a forgotten thing, but will show up to deliver it anyway. Shintaro glares when Konoha catches a cold after forgetting the umbrella, but will nurse him to health anyway. It’s Shintaro’s smile when Konoha thanks him that makes everything worth it. Shintaro smiles faintly; just a quirk of the corner of his mouth, a smile that says everything and nothing at once.

So, when Shintaro stands before him, a gun cocked to his forehead, smiling that faint little smile, Konoha thinks, _Ah, so he knew_ , and resigns himself to death in the hands of his most beloved.

“I always knew it was you who killed Ayano. I couldn’t let Kano or Kido to have this kind of work, so forgive me for doing it.”

“No,” Konoha says, “you’re not sorry.”

“Yeah, I guess I’m not,” Shintaro admits. “Goodbye, _Kuroha_.”

Shintaro pulls the trigger.


	2. the thing with clouds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Screw Kozakura. Screw Vongola and their war. I want you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fusion AU with Reborn. 700-800 words. Unbetaed.

Clouds are fleeting, Hibiya thinks faintly. One time it’ll gather, other time it’ll scatter. Shintaro-san is capricious like that too, he supposes. Shintaro-san never stays in HQ for too long, always comes and goes as he pleases, always does everything according to his own pace.

Hibiya often longs for simpler times, when they just fooling around and played games after school, before Vongola and Millefiore brought over their feuds to Japan, before Marry-chan suddenly found herself in charge of a fading yakuza group, before all of them was suddenly dragged over into a war. Into a dangerous world filled with rings and boxes.

Marry-chan should never have made the alliance. They should have stuck to business dealings and remained neutral. But she’d been impressed by the young Vongola Decimo’s honesty and kind-hearted nature (they all had). It made her want to believe in a gentler mafia, in a brighter future. Now it’s taking all of their resources just to survive.

The phone lights up. Hibiya answers it before it can even ring. “Takane-san?”

There’s the dull roar of gunfire and explosions in the background, but they sound far away. “Hibiya. We got the information, but we were intercepted—we couldn't save the contact—”

They have the information. The loss of their informant is regrettable, but at least he’d managed to deliver the data to Takane-san.

“Any injuries?” Hibiya interrupts.

Takane-san coughs delicately. “Um, Shintaro sustained some damage, but he’s walking. Everyone else is accounted for.”

Hibiya closes his eyes. “All right, I’ll relay it to Marry-chan. Return to base immediately. We’ll decide what to do from there.”

The phone is swiftly replaced on its cradle—it’s dangerous to keep the line open for too long.

Hibiya doesn’t like the alliance, but knows that they couldn’t really have avoided this war. It was Millefiore who killed many of them, after all. (Hiyori. Ayano-san. Kisaragi-san. Shion-san. The list goes on.)

\--

“Sulking again, Hibiya?”

Hibiya wraps his arms tighter around his knees and pretends not to care when Shintaro-san settles down to sit next to him, already in his red jersey and radiating comforting (familiar) heat. Faintly, Hibiya can make the outline of bandage peeking out from underneath a red sleeve.

“I made you worry again,” Shintaro-san starts, and Hibiya twitches to life.

“Damn right you did.”

“Well, it comes with the job,” Shintaro-san gives his faint smile. “Not that I could change anything by now…”

“But you don’t owe anything to Marry-chan,” Hibiya insists, “you never did. You don’t even have to be part of this.”

“Millefiore killed my father, you know.” Shintaro-san is so matter-of-fact like he’s speaking about weather and not about his father’s death. “Ayano, too. And I was this close to losing Momo.”

Hibiya doesn’t answer. He knows the pain all too well.

“But enough of depressing stuff,” Shintaro-san’s voice is suddenly light again. “Happy 20th birthday, Hibiya.”

Hibiya is surprised as Shintaro-san shoves a wrapped gift to his hands, and even more surprised as he feels, rather than see, what’s inside the wrap. “A storm-attribute box…” Hibiya owned an A-class Storm ring, but boxes are near-rarities to find. He then looks up to Shintaro-san, exclaiming in disbelief. “ _This_ is what you’ve been hurt for?”

Shintaro-san lets out a light shrug. “I got it together with the rings for Haruka.”

“But what about you?” he asks, hesitant.

Shintaro-san gives another smile as he caresses the A-class Cloud ring nesting on his finger; a gesture so unintentional it feels like routine. “I’ll be fine. You know how I am.”

Yes, in fact, Hibiya knows Shintaro-san will be just fine. Contrary to popular belief, Shintaro-san is the most powerful, most dangerous of them, with his uncanny intelligence and the tendency never to back down from fights (never again after the incident involving Momo-chan which cost them their father’s life). Everybody has heard of Kozakura’s Cloud guardian’s beautiful ruthlessness in battles, how he face everything and anything down his path in quiet elegance of mind and unparalleled killing intent.

“Thank you, Shintaro-san,” Hibiya ventures, happy to get Shintaro-san’s faint little smile in return.

“Haruka said we should have a barbecue this weekend,” Shintaro-san says absently. “But tonight… I… really want something else.”

Hibiya’s heart flutters. “What do you want…?”

“You.” Shintaro-san’s eyes are dark and as piercing as the katana he uses in battles. “Screw Kozakura. Screw Vongola and their war. I want you. I want you for myself.” Shintaro-san is suddenly all over Hibiya. “So, may I?”

Hibiya grins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Marry – Sky  
> Seto – Sun  
> Kano – Mist  
> Takane – Lightning  
> Shintaro – Cloud  
> Haruka – Rain  
> Hibiya – Storm


	3. murder on your tongue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “…If Haruka kills you, I’m not stopping him.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Vampire AU nobody wants.
> 
> I finally lost my muse for this fandom. Now accepting requests and/or prompts. Just tell me what, and I'll try to write it.

“You must be Shintaro.”

The other boy looks far too identical to Haruka for comfort, Shintaro thinks. Even their voices sound nearly the same. Minus the coloring, it’s clear that this is one of twins. Really, their genetics must be _strong_ , for all three brothers to look this alike to each other.

“Does Haruka know you’re here?” he asks.

The boy grins, blatantly invading Shintaro’s personal space and nuzzling on his cheek. “Haru-nii has been holding out on me. You smell so nice…”

“You’re the youngest, aren’t you,” Shintaro says, exasperated. “…Konoha’s twin, Kuroha.”

The boy gives a flourishing bow. “The one and only!”

Kuroha drapes an arm around Shintaro’s shoulders, not wasting any time to draw blood. Shintaro is entirely resigned, doesn’t even bother to struggle against his assailant.

“…If Haruka kills you, I’m not stopping him.”

Kuroha pauses from feeding to chuckle against his neck. “He’s gonna be pissed anyway. May as well take a lick.”

“ _Kuroha_.”

Never has the calling of a name promises so much bodily harm. Shintaro isn’t sure if he should thank the ancestors above as he peers over Kuroha’s shoulder. Haruka is smiling, but his eyes are frost. If he isn’t being half-pinned under Kuroha’s weight, Shintaro would’ve run for a cover.

“Hey, Haru-nii,” Kuroha smiles, entirely unrepentant. Before Haruka can reach him, Kuroha jumps off the ledge and disappears, leaving behind an echo of laughter.

Shintaro quietly puts a hand over his face. Sometimes he truly wonders about his life.

“Shintaro!” Haruka rushes to him, checking every inch of his body. “You okay? All limbs attached? No hair missing?”

“…I’m just slightly anemic, thanks.”

“Sorry, I don’t know Kuroha’s home. Konoha’s not a problem, but…” Haruka looks so miserable and cute and Shintaro has to quash the urge to squeeze the life out of the adorable vampire. “…You want me to call Momo?”

“God, no,” Shintaro groans. “She’ll fuss.”

“But—”

“Shut up, and just kiss me already.”


	4. a sky full of stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Momo waits.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fusion AU with Darker Than Black.
> 
> For now, this story is complete. I will possibly pick it up again if I have another dash of inspiration.

Momo waits.

\--

Eight years after the moon vanish and a week after Ayano’s death, Shintaro disappears. They spend weeks trying to find him, they call the hospitals and badger the police, but there's no sign of him anywhere. They keep his room cleaned and fresh, keep everything in place, as if Shintaro is only going out for a walk and will be home soon. Weeks blur into months, months turn into years, and yet, they still hope, they still wait.

Then their mother is killed in a random mugging and all that’s left for Momo is to wait for Shintaro to come home. A year and a half has passed by then, and she has graduated from being a teen idol into a rising actress. She keeps their house, gathering works and salaries, learning to live with ghosts.

Sometimes she looks toward the Wall and can't help but think of the urban legend about the Gate giving you your greatest desire so long as you're willing to pay the price.

\--

And Momo waits.

\--

One afternoon three years after Ayano’s death and ten months after Tokyo Explosion, Momo comes home to find her brother sitting on the dining table. She has to hold back her tears because _Shintaro_ is sitting _right there_ , whole and in flesh.

Only when she tackles him to an embrace she does realize the blank, bewildered look her brother is giving her, like he doesn’t quite understand, isn’t so sure why he is with her at all, but somehow also happy to be there nonetheless.

Then he smiles, faint and still confused around the edges, but warm and fond and _real_.

So Momo forgets everything and just focuses on the overwhelming feeling that her brother is finally _home_.

Momo is no longer alone.

\--

Shintaro doesn’t go out as often anymore. He creates programs in his computer, only going to his workplace when he has a sensitive program that needs to be delivered. His phone has a strange AI shaped like a teenage girl with blue pigtails and blue jersey and no feet. The AI is called Ene, and she causes troubles as often as she fixes it, but Shintaro doesn’t even try to reprogram her. When asked, Shintaro says that once he’d met a girl who later became the base of Ene’s personality and looks, so Ene is fine like that.

\--

There are stains that look suspiciously like dried blood and faint smell of burnt ashes on Shintaro’s red jersey when Momo takes it for a wash. Shintaro ruffles her hair, smile faint and fond, and tells her not to bother with it, because he will wash the stains himself. The jersey is clean and fresh again the next time she sees Shintaro wear it, so she thinks nothing and soon the incident is forgotten.

\--

Sometimes their house is used to host Shintaro’s friends; a pair of strange twins and a small grade-school boy. Why and how they met, Momo has no idea, but judging by their ease around each other, they likely have a long history between them.

The elder twin, Konoha, is frighteningly blank but sweet and ready to help, with snow-white hair and pinkish eyes. The younger, Kuroha, is a total opposite, raven-black hair and manic yellow eyes, willful and self-centered. The grade-school boy, Hibiya, brown-haired with eyes lighter brown than his hair, is often sulky, has no-nonsense attitude and a bad mouth. All three different persons with different personalities have one similarity; their complete willingness to listen to Shintaro.

Momo doesn’t mind having them around. They are rowdy and often annoying, but the house feels more like home with them in it.

\--

It isn’t until six months after Shintaro’s return that Momo finds out what exactly has happened to her brother, what has caused him to disappear for years.

Waking up tied to a chair with a splitting headache in a strange, dilapidated building halfway across town from home tends to panic everyone, Momo included. Two men, one with blond sideburns and a handgun, the other chewing on dandelion petals with frightening intensity, are also in the room, watching her every move.

This is a real kidnapping, she thinks, hear sinking to her stomach. But why her?

“Don’t be afraid, missy,” the man with sideburns and gun tells her in his heavily-accented Japanese. “We’re not gonna kill you.”

The other man stops chewing on petals, and says, “He’s smart. I doubt he’ll even come for her.”

“Nah, he’ll come. He took pain returning to his family when he could’ve escaped Japan altogether. He’s attached.”

Momo can feel her eyes start to burn with unshed, angry tears. They are talking about her brother, of course. But what sort of connections Shintaro had with this kind of people? They sure as hell aren’t examples of a fine, upstanding citizen.

But Shintaro has changed, hasn’t he? He is no longer himself from three years ago. Subtle changes, perhaps, but they are there.

Momo is shaken out from her musings when she hears sound of near-silent footfalls coming from the hallway, getting closer and closer to the room she’s being held hostage for whatever arcane reasons the two men have. For a wild moment, she hopes it is her brother, coming to save her.

Her hope is confirmed when Shintaro, dressed in all-black garb aside from a red scarf—Ayano’s?—winding around his neck, walks into view. His face wiped out of emotions, he looks more like a well-oiled android rather than a human being.

“You have something of mine,” Shintaro speaks, and his voice sends chills down the spine. “Would you be so kind to return my sister to me?”

The man with sideburns immediately goes for his gun, expression in mixture of wariness and fear. “DZ-107, codename Hi-iro. We’ve come to do some sweeping.”

The dandelion man grins, feral, and lunges.

Like all other citizens of Tokyo after the mess that is the Tokyo Explosion, Momo knows that there is a brand new species born when the fake sky appear, that they are not quite human, that they are nothing more than killing machines more often than not. How the stars are actually the very live of those Contractors, and there’s a code used to catalog them. She just doesn’t want to believe that _her brother_ is one of them.

But seeing Shintaro, movements all graceful and deadly, red flame burning bright on his palms and setting things on fire with barest touch, she is forced to admit that he really is a Contractor.

It's a word that sends a shiver down her spine and she can’t tear her gaze away from the bloody fight before her. Because suddenly the subtle changes, the bloodstains and burnt ashes in his clothes, the ridiculous amount of cola he consumes, make some sense.

And she wants to vomit because she doesn’t want to think of Shintaro, her dear brother, who gives her piggyback ride when she’s too tired to walk, doing things they say Contractors do. She doesn’t want to think about Shintaro waking up one morning and walking out of their life because suddenly he wasn’t human anymore.

\--

They leave the building in flames.

Shintaro is carrying her on his back like old times, and despite everything, Momo is calmed easily by the steady rhythm of Shintaro’s heartbeat. About five hundred meters from the building, a minivan stops near them and they climb in. Kuroha is grinning behind the wheel and Konoha has his hand on a small stainless steel spoon. Hibiya enters not three seconds later, shouldering a black bag bigger than himself. Suddenly, the history Shintaro has with his strange friends becomes so clear.

“Your fireworks have been noticed,” Hibiya says. “I saw a firefighter truck on my way here.”

Shintaro reaches to ruffle the boy’s hair, “Hibiya. Good backup.”

“Needless backup, that is,” Hibiya counters. “You torched them all in record time.”

Shintaro shrugs. “I was merely taking back what is mine.”

“You’re well-protected, huh, Princess?” Kuroha teases in a sing-song voice.

“Momo,” Shintaro’s voice causes her to flinch and turns to face him. “…I’m now part of that fake sky. I’ve lived three long years inflicting pain to others. But I want to try being Kisaragi Shintaro again.” His smile is faint, sad, fond. “…Will you allow me to stay?”

Momo stares at his soft gaze and tries hard not to cry. Throwing cautions to the wind and wrapping her arms around his neck, she tells him. “Don’t you dare leaving me alone again, stupid Onii-chan.”

When Shintaro’s arms wrap around her in return, Momo lets the tears to spill.

\--

The house is rowdy.

Momo smiles as she opens the front door. There are noises of bickering people and Shintaro’s voice over all of them, scolding like an exasperated father. Underneath the living room kotatsu, Shintaro’s whole gang is currently sprawling comfortably around the kotatsu table; Shintaro across from Hibiya, Konoha across from Kuroha. On the table is a hot pot, boiling and looking almost ready to be served. Judging by the scowls, Kuroha and Hibiya are the culprits from earlier bickering, likely over the hot pot contents. Konoha is as blank-faced as ever, and Shintaro has a longsuffering sigh. He then looks over and notices her in the doorway.

“Oh, Momo. Welcome home.”

Momo grins and settles over to Shintaro’s side. “I’m home, Onii-chan.”

\--

Momo doesn’t need to wait anymore.


	5. blood of the word

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shintaro loses his ears and tails at age sixteen, to Kokonose Haruka

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back after a year with Loveless fusion.  
> Not entirely satisfied with this one, feels too choppy, but please enjoy.

Shintaro’s ears and tail were pitch black and shaped like a cat’s. Sometimes they’d twitch whenever he’s feeling particularly agitated or excited. He loses them at sixteen to Kokonose Haruka.

\--

Shintaro doesn’t bother hiding the fact that he’s lost his ears and tails, gets an apartment and starts living alone, only coming home to his mother and sister if he has nothing better to do. Sometimes he goes to visit two graves and a hospital room. He also works at a small, themed café called ‘Kagerou’, owned by the eccentric Tsukihiko and his granddaughter Marry.

When the student body starts to show reluctance to accept his new status (his school is a prestigious one, after all, and one errant ‘adult’ isn’t going to fit well with school image), he takes online courses and finishes high school with minimal fuss. University students are more open-minded, many have lost their own ears and tails as well, but he doesn’t make friends that easily and remains comfortably alone.

\--

After one mistake involving Momo getting attacked by her overzealous fan, Shintaro often attracts hordes after hordes of unit pairs, who are all curious of why an unbound Sacrifice possesses powers over words that rivals the strongest Fighter’s. The only saving grace is that he is nigh unstoppable; he wins battles after battles, and his reputation only grows from there.

“It’s your own fault,” Ene chides over the com link after one such battle with yet another curious pair. Lately they’ve been conversing online more often than speaking face to face. Shintaro makes a note to visit the hospital soon. “You should know better than exposing yourself, idiot.”

“What can I do, I lost my Fighter unit,” he retorts, smile wan. “And it’s not like I have a choice. It’s my _sister_.”

“Thank fuck it all ended good for you,” Ene’s voice is still so bitter even after two years. Like him, she too still hasn’t forgotten the four-way tangle of feelings that was their high school love story.

He can only smile wistfully when Ene cuts off the connection abruptly. It would seem that visiting the hospital is also out of order for a while.

\--

In a battle, Shintaro meets a yellow-eyed ghost. He is losing, fighting against three pairs at once. His spells aren’t all effective when there are manacles around his arms, but he is too stubborn to give up without considerable fight. He is nearly at his wit’s end when all of sudden, a blast interrupting their battle and knocking him clean off his feet. Manacles dissipating as the pair who put them on him got blown away, he is then seized into a rather strong arms.

“I’ve finally found you, Kisaragi Shintaro,” is whispered to his ears, warm and familiar and loving, but Shintaro can’t help but imagine deadly poison dripping on its wake. “…My beloved Master.”

“Haruka…?” is out of his mouth before he could think to stop, his eyes automatically going to find his true partner’s face.

At first Shintaro doesn’t recognize whose face he’s seeing, only that it looks so familiar and so wrong at the same time. Upon closer inspection though, he comes to realize that the person really can’t be Haruka, not with those poisonous yellow eyes instead of warm brown and hair several shades darker. He swallows back the disappointment bubbling on his chest; Haruka is two-year-dead and Shintaro is carrying some of his ashes in a glass globe pendant knocking against his sternum. There is no room for illusions and wishful thinking.

“Carve your true name onto me,” not-Haruka whispers, a knife thrust into Shintaro’s lax grip. “Make me yours, Shintaro.”

Their true name—his and Haruka’s—is imprinted right over their hearts, stark black against the pale of his skin, appeared when they first caught sight of each other, proof that he and Haruka belong to each other. Shintaro had loved to touch Haruka’s mark whenever he caught sight of it peeking out.

This stranger with Haruka’s face is not, and will never be, Haruka, and Shintaro will treat him as such. His hand is trembling when he carves the word “BEATLESS” along pale collarbone, marking the other boy as his and hoping that Haruka won’t see this as betrayal. Not-Haruka kisses Shintaro’s bruised lips, snake-like smile curling too-pale lips, and Shintaro is too tired to resist.

“…Call me Kuroha, my sweet Master. Just rest easy, I will win this battle for you.”

Not-Haruka, or _Kuroha_ , as he’s introduced himself, is indeed a powerful Fighter. Their link is new and still relatively shaky, but Kuroha seems to be able to hold his ground even while protecting Shintaro. Feeling rather useless, Shintaro only watches as Kuroha gleefully decimates their opponents, putting first, second, then last pair out of commission with effective brutality, bodies strewn all across the battleground. He doesn’t know if the second Sacrifice is even alive.

The world suddenly tilts sideways, and the last thing Shintaro sees is Kuroha’s rather alarmed face.

\--

Shintaro wakes up feeling warm and fuzzy. The first was because he is bundled up in bed, the latter because he is most likely drugged to the gills; he makes a soft noise and opened his eyes. Shintaro stares at the ceiling and slowly realizes he is in his apartment bedroom. He can’t even move if he tries. His whole body is in a weird dreamlike state, still hazy around the edges, and he knows he’d fall flat on his face if he tries getting out of bed. When he looks down, Kuroha is curled up into a ball on his side and has a death grip on his shirt.

“Kuroha,” he manages, and his voice cracks. “…Kuroha.”

Kuroha snaps to attention, moving in a way that can’t be described by anything but _slither_. Suddenly Kuroha is all over Shintaro and even nuzzling on his neck.

“Good morning, Shintaro,” greets Kuroha amiably. “It’s been three days since you were last awake. How do you feel?”

“Crap,” Shintaro blurts. “My job…”

Kuroha’s smile widens. “I called sick for you. The owner was very understanding.”

Suddenly suspicious of that smile, he asks, “And who did you tell him you are?”

Kuroha’s grin is blinding. “Why, your glorious slave of desire, of course!”

“Oh, for pity’s sake,” he groans. “Stop prattling nonsense and go fetch me some food and drink.”

\--

Kuroha thankfully makes his own bed and is able to procure his own food. Shintaro generally doesn’t eat much—only the healthy amount to keep his physique for battles—and he feels queasy, as well as fearing for the state of his wallet, just by looking at the sheer amount of food Kuroha can consume in one go. He doesn’t know who paid for Kuroha’s meals, but he does feel sorry for the guy.

Kido seems to have this certain air of resignation whenever Kuroha walks into Kagerou, while Kano always tries to avoid Kuroha altogether. Seto and Marry are taking the ‘friendly’ route. Kuroha and Tsukihiko get along famously, to the surprise of everyone but Shintaro himself: the owner always has a few screws loose in his head. Momo, in her rare visits to Kagerou, is reasonably wary of Kuroha. Shintaro privately thinks Momo’s reaction as the most normal; most people _are_ wary of Kuroha for various reasons. Takane screams the first time she catches sight of Kuroha. Shintaro spends an hour to convince her that _yes, it is a different person_ , and _no, Haruka isn’t coming back to life_.

The thing is that everyone, even Kano and Momo and Takane, enjoys Kuroha’s presence in their own ways. Like a certain deceased Fighter, Kuroha has _ways_ to burrow himself into their hearts. Shintaro has stopped counting how many times his heart gives a painful lurch whenever he finds yet another similarity and difference between Kuroha and Haruka. While Kuroha’s feeling for him is clear and out in the open, Shintaro neither stop nor encourage the advances Kuroha makes.

When Kuroha kisses him, Shintaro doesn’t react. To be truthful, he is not sure _how_ to react. So he lets Kuroha practically devour his lips, lets Kuroha’s hands roam and grapple at his jersey. He merely sighs when Kuroha finally lets him go, stares hard at Kuroha’s poison-yellow eyes.

“…You shouldn’t have done that,” he says, flat and unimpressed.

Kuroha very deliberately licks his pale lips. “It was just for fun and all, Master.”

Shintaro tries hard not to scream.

\--

(In Shintaro’s mind, Ayano is cooing, “ _See, Shintaro. Somebody_ always _loves you. Isn’t it amazing?_ ”

In Shintaro’s mind, Haruka’s mouth is dripping with yakisoba sauce, smile bright and forever made of sunshine.

In Shintaro’s mind, there are two graves; two cold slabs of stone carrying the name of his treasured people.)

\--

Shintaro doesn’t have a shift today, but his feet carry him toward Kagerou. There is only Kano there, and the younger boy’s face screws up to a bitter smile as Kuroha walks in behind Shintaro. Frowning, Shintaro alternatively watches between Kano’s stiff face and Kuroha’s deprecating smile.

When Kano scurries off to the kitchen to prepare their order, he nudges Kuroha’s foot and asks, “What’s wrong between you two? Did you piss Kano off or something?”

“Hmm,” says Kuroha, smile turning sly and seductive. “Because we’ve known each other, I guess?”

Kuroha doesn’t elaborate no matter how Shintaro wheedles. It is such an unusual occurrence that he almost doesn’t notice a clearly malicious presence until a shower of needles comes from above. He feels his breath stutter as Kuroha grabs his midsection and pulls him out of the line of fire. There is a faint outline of a person in the darkness several feet away from them. Shintaro wonders if it is a lone Fighter, but Kuroha is already putting up the battleground.

“ _Unite, converge,_ ” Kuroha starts his spell, “ _swallow whole the meal that rests upon you, arise earth_!”

“ _Then bind_ ,” Shintaro adds—a simple spell really, but the factor of surprise makes even the simplest of incantations deadly.

The ground underneath enemy begins to rumble.

“ _Rise for naught, you will not harm me_ ,” the Fighter counters immediately, and Shintaro feels as if he knows the voice.

The ground juts up and gives chase, but slows before it can hit, fails to reach the target. Ropes shoot out from the air, courtesy of Shintaro’s spell, but the lone Fighter manages to burn the ropes with a spell. Shintaro can feel Kuroha bristle, hackles rising, and he puts a hand over the name on Kuroha’s collarbone.

Shintaro calls out, “Who are you? Show yourself.”

“Huh, here I thought you’d recognize me right away, Kisaragi.”

A man steps into the circle of light underneath a streetlight, and Shintaro can feel his eyes widening. The man is messier and a tad more stressed than Shintaro’s remembered, but it _is_ Tateyama Kenjiro, his and Momo’s high school teacher and Ayano’s father, still clad in his trademark white lab coat and creased shirt and jeans.

“Tateyama-sensei…”

“Still calling me that, brat?” Kenjiro grins. “You’re almost a sophomore in your university, right?”

“It’s been a while, sensei,” he tries smiling, though he knows it will come out more like a grimace.

“Since Ayano’s funeral, wasn’t it?” the man nods, grin sharp as a shark at Shintaro’s flinch. “Glad you still remember.”

Kuroha steps in between Kenjiro and Shintaro. “Go away, old man.”

“Tsk, tsk, Kuroha,” Kenjiro waggles a finger. “It’s not the polite way to speak with your daddy.”

A thorn of ice suddenly lodges itself on Shintaro’s stomach. “…What?”

Kenjiro grins again, and it’s one hundred percent malice and resentment. “Oh, I made that _thing_. You ever wonder why _that_ looks so much like Kokonose? Surely that’s not a coincidence, because I used Kokonose Haruka’s DNA to create that _thing_.”

“…Why?” Shintaro can only whisper.

“BECAUSE YOU ARE THE ONE WHO DROVE MY SWEET AYANO TO SUICIDE!!” Kenjiro screams in mad rage, clutching at his head and knocking his glasses askew.

Shintaro shakes his head—whether it is in denial or simple horror, he doesn’t know. But the man is _ranting_ , sounding less and less sane as he continues on. “You were the ones who killed her, you and Kokonose and Enomoto. Luckily or not, Kokonose dropped before I could lay my hand on him, but Enomoto is much, much easier. Just a little meds, and off she went. Sad that she didn’t die, though.”

Shintaro grips at Kuroha’s shirt so tightly his knuckle turns white.

“ _You,_ though, you are trickier. You’re smart and have good instinct, and you’re also good in battles. I sent one pair after another, and you defeated them all. But you aren’t without weakness. Your little sis, for example, and one Kokonose Haruka.” Kenjiro is chuckling, and it sounds so deranged Shintaro takes an involuntary step backward. “…So I built a doll, gave it the appearances of your poor, dead boyfriend, and sent it to you all wrapped in bow. You owe me a damn fruit basket.” Here, the grin is back, dangerous and poisonous. “So you see, Kisaragi. Now is the time I get my revenge on you.”

“Shintaro—” Kuroha starts, eyes wild and desperate, “—run.”

Before anybody can move, Kenjiro shouts, “Override AI! Run programs Dz-HEBI-107, target: Kisaragi Shintaro!”

Kuroha’s eyes blanks out, and those cold, pale hands reach out to Shintaro’s neck. He chokes as his airway gets clogged under Kuroha’s unrelenting fingers. Kenjiro is laughing somewhere nearby, but Shintaro stares at Kuroha’s snake-like eyes and smiles faintly; at least his personal reaper is pretty. It isn’t an ideal way to go, but behind his closing eyelids, he sees the pool of Ayano’s blood and Haruka heart monitor flat-lining.

(There are twin streaks of tears running down Kuroha’s cheek.)

“ _Crackling and chirping, dance lightning!_ ”

When his sight refocuses, Momo’s worried face swims into view. Shintaro cranes his aching neck and spies Takane battling Kenjiro as both Kano and Seto struggling to hold Kuroha down. Then Kido jams something down the back of Kuroha’s neck and the clone finally stills.

“Onii-chan!”

Momo is calling desperately to his ear, but Shintaro sees the gray edging around his sight before he gratefully sinks into black.

\--

_“Shintaro-kun, are you awake?”_

_“…No.”_

_“Liar. You are.”_

_“What’s up, Haruka? Let me sleep…”_

_“Shintaro-kun, if I die, don’t you dare follow me. You must life my share too, no matter what.”_

_“…Even though I’ll be all alone?”_

_“You won’t be. There’s still Takane and Ayano-chan. Momo-chan too. As long as you’re alive, you will meet many, many wonderful people out there. I’m sure of it.”_

_“Then, what will you do if_ I’m _the one who died?”_

_“Hmm, I wonder…”_

_“Ha-ru-ka…”_

_“Don’t die, Shintaro-kun. Live on for me, all right?”_

\--

Shintaro doesn’t expect to wake up.

But wake up he does, his throat sore and his mind sluggish. There is steady beeping of heart monitor nearby, the noise almost driving him crazy. There is also the pinch of a needle on his arm, connected to an I.V. pole. He sweeps a look around and finds his friends strewn all over the small hospital room. Momo is occupying the sofa with Marry, fast asleep. Seto dozes off on the floor, body half-leaning onto Marry’s leg. Kido sits on the bedside visitor’s chair, sleeping with her arms folded together.

Shintaro smiles fondly, heart warmed at the sight. He looks up when the door slides open softly, and Tsukihiko’s face appear. For once, the man doesn’t look cheerful, instead smiles tiredly.

“Shintaro-kun,” there is palpable relief on Tsukihiko’s voice. “We were worried if you’d ever wake up. It’s been ten days since you were admitted.”

“Ten… days?” he croaks, then abruptly breaking to a fit of coughs.

Tsukihiko is instantly on his side as if he’d teleported, and Shintaro hears sleeping teenagers around him all stirring awake. He gratefully downs the glass of cool water someone’s pushed to his hands.

“Careful, lad,” Tsukihiko soothes, hand warm on Shintaro’s back. “Doc said your throat will be sore.”

Swallowing the last of his water, Shintaro then whispers carefully, “…Thanks.”

“Onii-chan!” Momo is immediately on his side, Kido vacating the visitor’s chair so that Momo can sit, and Shintaro smiles at his little sister. Marry joins her grandfather on his other side while Seto settles himself on the foot of the bed.

“Yo,” he gives a weak wave.

Seto’s laugh sounds so ridiculously grateful. “Shintaro-san… thank god. We thought we’d lost you…”

Momo glares at Seto. “Seto-san, I’ve told you my brother is stronger than that!”

“What’s the word?” he asks the room in general. “Is Takane all right? Where’s Kano, by the way?”

Seto immediately replies, “Takane-san is fine. Kano is currently with her. They found a… medicine, so to speak, for her condition. She will make a full recovery.”

“From Sensei’s lab, I presume?” he guesses, smiles when Seto winces and nods. “Well. Continue on, Seto.”

“Dad—” Seto winces at his word, “—uh, Tateyama Kenjiro is going to be detained in a special prison for Fighters. He won’t be able to hurt you or anybody else ever again.”

“…And Kuroha?”

The whole room seems to collectively flinch. Shintaro looks over at Tsukihiko, willing the café owner to answer honestly. A deep sigh, then the man replies, “Someone called Aoyagi-sensei from Septimal Moon took him. They claimed that blank fighters are their specialty, and they will _treat_ Kuroha-kun.”

“Fuck them, he’s _mine_ ,” Shintaro hisses, possessive feeling suddenly bubbling on his chest. The thin threads connecting him to Kuroha are still there, tangible and glittering. He struggles to sit, ignoring the alarmed faces his visitors make. “…He’s mine, and I’m going to take him back.”

\--

Shichisei Academy is so painfully easy to break into, and between Takane, Marry, and Kano, not even the famed Zero pair are able to withstand them. Shintaro strides in a leisure pace, going deeper and deeper into the heart of the facility. He pauses when he sees a tall blond man standing in front of his goal: the room they are hiding Kuroha in.

“I appreciate you weren’t killing the kids,” says Agatsuma Soubi, smile kind and fatherly. “Ritsuka will be inconsolable if you did.”

“Shall we go down to business, then?” he asks, smiling back. “If you are willing to return _my_ Kuroha, please do so. He’s in there, isn’t he?” Judging by the threads around Agatsuma, it is a fair guess that Aoyagi Ritsuka will be also behind the door. “If you aren’t willing, though, I’d have to break that door open.”

“Such possessiveness,” Agatsuma muses, smirk appreciative. “You really are the strongest Sacrifice. I hope you’re willing to consider joining us? We could use your brilliance.” At his glare, Agatsuma puts his hand up in the air, moving away from the door. “…Your Kuroha is behind this door. Use him well.”

“I’m not ‘using’ him,” he scoffs at Agatsuma. “He belongs to me. That’s all.”

As soon as Shintaro opens the door, he is immediately jumped and pulled into someone’s arms. The bond is humming, happy and eager. The arms around him tighten, threatening to cut his air. Shintaro taps the arm twice, groaning.

“You’re strangling me…” he gripes, then heaving a deep breath when the arms release him.

“Sorry!” Kuroha is grinning, undeniably elated to see him. “I’ve missed you so much, Shintaro!”

\--

“ _I appreciate your help, Kisaragi-kun. I hope we will be having a fulfilling relationship._ ”

Shintaro suppresses a shiver at Aoyagi’s creepy, overly friendly tone. “…Stop talking, please. You give me creeps. And I’m not having any _relationship_ with you. Get Agatsuma or your beloved Zero guys.”

It is summer, and the cicadas are loud. Both Shintaro and Kuroha are on their way to the gathering at Kagerou, celebrating Ayano’s twentieth birthday. Matters have settled themselves, though not all so neatly. In the aftermath of Kenjiro’s rampage, Kano has admitted that he’d long known of Kenjiro’s schemes, and had been guilt-tripped into helping recreate Haruka’s quirks on Kuroha. Kano also told them that he’d been holding some rage against Shintaro, because Shintaro never chose Ayano, who clearly had been in love with him, and so he wanted Shintaro to be punished.

_“I understand why it would seem weird to you guys,” Shintaro nods to the kids. “Ayano had loved me, sure, and I did love her in return. Only, I didn’t see her like a lover. I only saw Ayano as my best friend. The same applied to Haruka and Takane’s relationship too.”_

_Surprisingly, Kido is nodding along. “I knew, Shintaro-san. Nee-san always told me that she couldn’t be someone you truly love. She was very happy when you and Haruka-san started dating, and also so devastated that Haruka-san died, leaving you alone.”_

When Kenjiro was escorted to his new jail, Shintaro and Takane were also there. They had agreed to tell the man what they truly saw the day Ayano fell; the bitter secret they both had been keeping for two whole years.

_“It’s not that we didn’t stop her, but it was Ayano who wanted us to kill her,” he says, causing Kenjiro to struggle against the chain and cuffs. “She found out that her dear father had been using her little siblings and mother as test subjects. Added with her close friend’s death, she just couldn’t cope with reality anymore.”_

_Kenjiro’s mouth falls open, but there is no word coming out._

_“I remember, Sensei,” Takane says, voice quiet. “You were the one who made me into a blank Fighter, weren’t you?”_

_“Haruka, and me, too, we were all your test subjects.” Shintaro smiles bitterly. “I remember_ _nothing, but I will never forgive you._ ”

Shintaro lets out a grunt when Kuroha jumps onto his back and giggles to the phone, “Yes, Shintaro is mine! No stealing him from me!”

“Coming from the guy who’d gotten _stolen_ last time, it’s not too convincing,” Shintaro quips, earning a pout from Kuroha.

Aoyagi’s trilling laugh comes from the phone speaker. “ _Really, Kisaragi-kun. You are already slated to take over my department when you graduate. You_ are _already part of Septimal Moon._ ”

“I’m so thrilled,” he drones flatly. “Many thanks, Aoyagi-sensei.”

“ _You are very welcome, Kisaragi_ -sensei,” replies Aoyagi cheerfully, causing Shintaro to shudder once more. “ _I’ll be in touch. Goodbye_.”

Shintaro cuts the call immediately, not bothering with parting pleasantries. Kuroha is giggling, loops his arms around Shintaro’s shoulders and hums. “Good times, huh, Master~?”

Shintaro chuckles helplessly, nodding. “Good times indeed.”

\--

Omake:

Shintaro stares down at the brown-haired shorty who has claimed to be Momo’s Sacrifice, not quite knowing what to say. The boy is glaring at him, cat ears twitching, trying to look menacing but clearly failing, instead looking cute and adorable as result. Looking to his side, he finds his sister is similarly clueless, and Kuroha seeming highly entertained. Aoyagi, the _matchmaking_ _bastard_ , is grinning in the background. Agatsuma at least has the decency to muffle his laugh.

“Seriously, little sister, you never did things in halves.”

“…Shut up, Onii-chan.”

Shintaro turns his eyes back down to the squirt. “You, Hibiya. You’re so cute it’s ridiculous. And don’t get my sister pregnant, your mom will get a heart attack if she sees you missing your ears.”

The kid splutters. “I don’t want to hear that from an _adult_ like you!”


End file.
